Board: Test Lyman High For Asbestos

SANFORD — Seminole County School Board members voted Tuesday to pay for tests to ensure that asbestos in Lyman High School's auditorium and band room poses no health threat.

Board members also ordered a review of the district's excused absence policy after a rabbi complained teachers discriminate against students who miss tests because of religious holidays.

On the asbestos issue, Richard Wells, assistant superintendent for facilities, said he believes there is no risk to students or teachers at Lyman but wanted to conduct tests to be sure.

The district was fined $47,700 by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for keeping poor records on asbestos inspections. EPA officials said the district is correcting the violations and the fine should be reduced to about $4,700.

Among the 15 violations was a lack of written proof that Lyman had ever been inspected.

In August, an EPA inspector informed officials that Lyman's band room and auditorium ceilings might contain asbestos. Wells said a private engineering firm confirmed that report last week.

Asbestos is a cancer-causing material used in the manufacture of fireproof materials.When damaged or aged, it can crumble into fibers that can be inhaled.

If tests show the asbestos is not entering the air, Wells said it would be best to leave it for now.

The school board also voted to hire engineers to inspect all district buildings for asbestos. Potential heath hazards will be removed, Wells said.

On the matter of makeup tests, school board members tossed the issue to its policy overview committee made up of teachers, principals and parents. The committee will recommend next year whether religious holidays deserve special consideration.

Rabbi Maurice Kaprow told the board that his son, Mark, is being required unfairly to take an essay test to make up a history exam missed during Rosh Hashanah -- the Jewish New Year.

Rabbi Kaprow said Mark's classmates took a combination multiple choice and essay exam.

The Kaprows say that makeup tests for religious absences should be the same type that other students took and that tests should be given during school hours.

Mark, a Lake Mary High School junior, has not taken the history test because teacher Janice Blackwelder requires that makeup tests be essay instead of multiple choice and that they be taken only after school on Wednesdays.

Mark made up two other tests he missed because of the holiday.

Currently, religious holidays are in the category of excused absences, along with school-sponsored field trips, illness and a death in the family. The districts leave it up to teachers to set their own makeup test policies.

Blackwelder, who did not attend the board meeting, said her policy treats all students equally. Giving students who miss exams the same tests would make cheating easier, she added.

Marshall Ogletree, director of the teachers union, agreed. He said Kaprow's idea ''would restrict the time teachers have to teach.''

But other religious leaders sympathized with the Kaprows.

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro of Congregation Beth Am near Casselberry, noted that schools set their winter holidays to coincide with Christmas and their spring holidays to fall during Easter.

''We'd just like to see respect for our holidays as well,'' he said.

Evangelist John Butler Book, of the Northside Church of Christ in Maitland, said schools ''need to respect all religions and we need to be sure that all religions get to have a say in this policy decision.''